furniture

Noun

furniture (usually uncountable, plural furnitures)

1. (usually) Large movable item(s), usually in a room, which enhance(s) the room's characteristics, functionally or decoratively.
   • The woman does not even have one stick of furniture moved in yet.
   • How much furniture did they leave behind?
2. (usually) The harness, trappings etc. of a horse, hawk, or other animal.
   • We commend a horse because he is strong and nimble,[…]and not for his furniture: a greyhound for his swiftnesse, not for his collar: a hawke for her wing, not for her cranes or bells.1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 42, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC
   • Amongst the rich this part of a hawk's furniture is ornamented with embroidery, handsome silver aigrettes, tassels and other decorations.1934, George Cameron Stone, A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor, →ISBN
3. (usually) Fittings, such as handles, of a door, coffin, or other wooden item.
   • […]a new universal pistol, one to be carried by each man, with a 9-inch barrel of musket-bore and an iron ramrod carried in the holster; the furniture was reduced to just a brass trigger guard (no butt-plate), and some were fitted with Nock's lock.1994, Philip Haythornthwaite, British Cavalryman 1792-1815, →ISBN, page 30
4. (obsolete, usually) An accompanying enhancing feature, or features collectively; embellishment, decoration, trimming.
   • A Scythian Shepherd, so imbelliſhed
     With Natures pride, and richeſt furniture?
     His looks do menace heauen & dare the Gods,
     His fiery eies are fixt vpon the earth.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
5. (usually) The stock and forearm of a weapon.
6. (historical, usually) The pieces of wood or metal put around pages of type to make proper margins and fill the spaces between the pages and the chase.
7. (slang, usually) The stumps.
8. (usually) Any material on the page other than the body text and pictures of articles; for example, headlines, datelines and dinkuses, lines and symbols (though in earlier use, only non-text elements of page design, such as lines and symbols).
   • It read: “This article was amended on 3 January 2023. The original furniture said the fireworks display was on Christmas Eve.”2023 January 31, Elisabeth Ribbans, “The perils of using journalist jargon outside the newsroom”, in The Guardian
9. (usually) A type of mixture organ stop.
10. (archaic, usually) Draped coverings and hangings; bedsheets, tablecloths, tapestries, etc.
11. (obsolete, usually) Clothing with which a person is furnished; apparel, outfit.
12. (obsolete, usually) Arms and armor, equipment of war.